“Wings of Desire” (1987 Wim Wenders)

Presented by Andrew Darwin ~ Hosted by Nicola Bodano

To reserve your place, or to propose a future cinematic experience, please mail SavilianFilmSociety@gmail.com

Osman Tack, piano – unusual contemporary repertoire.

Admission free but booking required.

Aperitif Concert videothèque: https://www.youtube.com/@savileaperitif

Mark Mason doesn’t want to be just another magician doing tricks to fool you. Instead, he loves the way magic can develop your thinking. So he does the tricks for you – then helps you to work out how he did them. Cards, coins, iPhones, wallets: all these and more are used to amaze you – and then you amaze yourself by (with Mark’s hints) solving the mystery of how the tricks are done.

The aim is not just to teach you some incredible magic you can use to baffle your friends (although of course that’s part of it). The real point of the session is to get your brain working in a different way. By showing you how a magician’s mind works, Mark reveals the mental techniques that will let you solve pretty well any trick you’ll see in the future. What’s more, the techniques can be applied to problems you’ll encounter at work and in life more generally.       

Mark draws a cross on a card – and it’s the card you then pick from the pack. He makes a coin disappear from one hand and then reappear in the other. He makes one elastic band pass through another as you watch them. At the beginning of the session you will have no idea how such seemingly impossible feats are happening. By the end, not only will you be able to do them yourself – you’ll also see the world from a slightly different angle.

Mark Mason has, over the years, researched the BBC radio coverage of Princess Diana’s funeral, sold Christmas cards in Harrods, busked outside Eric Clapton gigs at the Albert Hall and (for one of his non-fiction books) walked the entire London Underground system overground. His journalism has appeared in publications from the Spectator to Four Four Two, and he is the Times Diary’s ‘pet trivia hound’. A fan of magic since childhood, his fascination these days is with what tricks reveal about our thinking.

‘How have you done that then?’ Jonathan Agnew

‘That is great.’ Michael Vaughan

‘Jesus!’ Phil Tufnell

BBC Test Match Special team

Patrick Kidd has been a journalist for 25 years with various national newspapers and magazines, principally The Times for whom he wrote the Diary column and political sketch. An anthology of the latter was published as The Weak Are A Long Time in Politics.

W.B. Yeats was not only a leading voice of the Irish Literary Revival at the turn of the century but also one of the world’s most defining poets. A Nobel laureate (1923) and fellow Savilian, Yeats’s literary work evolved from romantic and mythic beginnings to intricate meditations on history, philosophy, and politics. Born in Dublin and of Anglo-Irish descent, he was profoundly influenced by Irish folklore, the occult, and his lifelong search for spiritual order. His poetry, blending symbolism with modernist innovation, gave lyrical form to themes of nationalism and cultural identity. Among his most enduring works include The Tower, The Second Coming, and The Stolen Child.

Keeler Mears is an investment professional and a young member of the Savile. Growing up in Vermont, he has lived in England for the last 10-years, first graduating from Cambridge University then continuing his studies at Imperial College London. Though desk-bound by day, at night he can be found at the Royal Drawing School training his hand in portraiture. His personal interest in poetry stems from his late father, a poet, author, and schoolteacher. He continues this legacy as part of his own journey to explore transcendental meaning, spiritual inquiry and psychological healing through creative expression, both written and visual.

Proposers and their Candidates are invited to attend a dinner hosted by the Club at which several members of the General Committee will be present. This will give candidates the opportunity of meeting both members of the Committee and other Savilians.

A selection of three Red Wines from the Club cellar will be paired to the smoking evolution of a cigar chosen from our Club Humidor. The cigar featured for this occasion is the Partagas D4.

Three tailored food pairings will accompany each stage of the cigar’s evolution.

Featuring Vaughan Williams’ ‘The House of Life’ (an early songcycle to verse by Rosetti), Dowland, Handel, Savilians Stanford /Elgar /Quilter & the premiere of Michæl Maxwell Steer setting of three pœms by Robert Bridges.

Archie Inns is a Scottish tenor studying for a Masters at the RCM where he is taught by Miranda Wright and Nicky Spence. He made his debut at the Oxford International Song Festival in 2024 alongside James Gilchrist and has performed many solo recital with his collaborator Alfred Fardell and won many funding awards. A choral scholar at Oxford, Archie read theology, but demand for his unique voice was so strong that he abandoned a career in law and has subsequently sung with many major choirs including the BBC Singers and The 16 at the Proms, as well as all the London cathedral choirs.

Alfred Fardell is a pianist based in London. He holds the Michael Gilsenan Award at the Royal Academy of Music where he studies Ensemble Piano under James Baillieu and Anna Tilbrook. Before joining the Academy, Alfred gained a First Class degree in Music from St Peter’s College, Oxford. Competition success has included the Dorothy Richardson English Song Prize, Rex Stephens prize and the Marjorie Thomas Art of Song Prize. Alfred’s studies are supported by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust.

With members from the Athenaeum, Oriental, Travellers, Oxford & Cambridge, Naval & Military, Hurlingham, Carlton, Brook’s ; RAC, Buck’s and Reform Clubs.

£57 Including drinks & canapes, 2 course dinner with wine

Stalin’s Apostles is a radical new look at the way five people allowed their obsession with Communist ideology to overshadow any sense of morality or decency – or loyalty to their country. Why did these gilded charming men, blessed with brains, and beauty and opportunities, choose to betray their country?

Using recently declassified files, Stalin’s Apostles explores as never before the treachery of Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Kim Philby, John Cairncross and Keeper of the Queen’s Pictures Anthony Blunt, all radicalised while at Cambridge University in the 1930s. Their clandestine supply of British and US intelligence material gave Stalin an inside track on US and British decision-making until the implosion of the spy-ring in May 1951. There was barely a secret, barely a decision made, that Stalin did not know about, thanks to his Cambridge spies, and his networks in the United States. The Five became tools in Stalin’s imperial scheme, responsible directly and indirectly for the death of thousands of men and women fighting against Soviet domination.

Shielded for so long by the British Establishment, four of the five were never prosecuted for their crimes. As STALIN’S APOSTLES reveals, they were exposed as much by their own incompetence as by forensic investigation by the CIA, MI5 or MI6. And in time another dictator emerged as ruthless as Stalin, but with an even greater desire to establish a Russian Empire that would threaten Western democracy. The legacy of the Cambridge Five is not only in the graveyards of eastern Europe, but at the heart of Putin’s Kremlin.

‘Meticulously researched, this is a fascinating analysis.’ Nigel West, author of A Matter of Trust: MI5, 1945-72

‘Beautifully written and utterly compelling, Stalin’s Apostles is a brilliant reassessment of the Cambridge Five whose naive faith in communism is tellingly juxtaposed with the brutal reality of Stalin’s rule. Their betrayals had serious consequences for the West, as Senior makes clear, yet they lived out their days in Soviet exile with few regrets. A cautionary tale by a rising star of non-fiction.‘Saul David, author of Tunisgrad

‘Understanding why the Cambridge spies really betrayed their country has eluded historians for decades. Senior’s new book is impressive in its scope of ground-breaking research and depth of historical context to unpack the motivations of these enigmatic men. A powerful narrative.’
Dr Helen Fry, author of The White Lady
A brilliant book. Deep research and dazzling writing make Stalin’s Apostles an appallingly entertaining read. A definitive work on one of the 20th century’s most treacherous conspiracies. Tim Weiner, author of Legacy of Ashes and The Mission.

Antonia Senior is a novelist, critic and journalist. She studied history at Cambridge University and has retained a lifelong interest in the Soviet Union and intelligence history. Antonia has published three novels. Stalin’s Apostles is her first work of non-fiction. Antonia has spent more than a decade as the historical fiction reviewer for The Times. She spent thirteen years on staff at The Times in various roles, including acting Business Editor and leader writer.

Roger Moorhouse is a specialist in modern German and Polish history, particularly the Third Reich and the Second World War. He has written a number of books in this capacity, including Killing Hitler (2006), Berlin at War (2010), The Devils’ Alliance (2014) and the critically acclaimed First to Fight (2019), which was awarded the Polish Foreign Ministry History Prize in 2020. Roger’s books have appeared in

Booking for both AGM and Dinner required.